Goldman Sachs has reaffirmed a Buy rating on Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and assigned a $180.00 price target following a quarter that outperformed market expectations. The firm cited the company’s quarterly results and outlook as drivers for the call, which comes as Lam Research shares have exhibited strong momentum - InvestingPro data indicate a 224% price return over the past year and show the stock trading near its 52-week high of $243.99.
On the top line, Lam Research reported revenue of $5.35 billion, modestly above the Street consensus of $5.25 billion. The company delivered a gross margin of 49.7%, beating Goldman Sachs’ expectation of 48.7% and the Street estimate of 48.6%. Within revenue mixes, Systems sales totaled $3.36 billion and Service revenue was $1.98 billion, with the latter figure significantly outstripping analyst projections.
Lam’s latest performance aligns with its recent trailing metrics. According to InvestingPro, the company recorded a 49.3% gross profit margin over the last twelve months and achieved year-over-year revenue growth of 25.7%.
Management issued first-quarter guidance that also eclipsed consensus. At the midpoint, revenue is projected at $5.70 billion versus the Street’s $5.37 billion forecast. The company guided operating margin to 34.0%, which surpasses analyst estimates, and provided non-GAAP earnings-per-share guidance of $1.25 to $1.45.
Analyst framing and valuation
Goldman Sachs highlighted several areas it expects market participants to focus on going forward, including the outlook for wafer fabrication equipment in 2026, the trajectory of the NAND upgrade cycle, order trends in China, and the path for gross margins. The $180 price target published by Goldman reflects a 31X price-to-earnings multiple applied to its normalized EPS estimate of $5.80.
Downside considerations and company financials
The firm noted specific downside risks, among them the possibility of pauses in NAND supplier upgrade spending, the imposition of further U.S. government export restrictions, and industry shifts toward greater lithography intensity at the expense of deposition and etch applications. Despite these risk factors, Lam Research reported a solid liquidity position, with a current ratio of 2.21, and has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years, as noted in InvestingPro Tips.
Peer analyst activity
Lam Research has attracted upward revisions from multiple brokerages since the reported quarter. Wells Fargo upgraded the stock from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised its price target to $250.00, citing supportive memory supply and demand dynamics. Stifel lifted its price target to $250.00 from $160.00 while maintaining a Buy rating, pointing to strong systems sales growth in 2025 that outpaced the broader wafer fabrication equipment market. RBC Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $260.00 price target, attributing its view to NAND upgrade drivers and foundry share gains. Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $211.00 and kept an Equalweight rating based on expectations of continued outperformance in coming years.
Sector context
Activity in the broader semiconductor space also remains notable. The article’s coverage includes SK Hynix’s announcement of a $13 billion investment in a new HBM packaging plant in Korea, scheduled for completion by late 2027, a development that reflects continued capital deployment across memory and packaging segments.
Investors and market watchers will likely monitor Lam Research’s order trends, margin trajectory, and the pace of memory-related upgrades as they assess the sustainability of recent results and the assumptions underlying analyst valuations.